Egypt confirms oil tanker hijacking off Yemen coast

Egypt confirmed on May 11, 2026 that an oil tanker carrying Egyptian crew members was hijacked off the coast of Yemen and taken toward Somalia, according to Middle East Monitor.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the tanker, identified as M/T Eureka, was seized in Yemeni territorial waters before being moved into Somali waters. Cairo said it was closely monitoring the situation amid efforts to secure the release of the crew.

The ministry stated that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty instructed Egypt’s embassy in Mogadishu to coordinate directly with Somali authorities and follow developments “at the highest level” to ensure the safety of the Egyptian sailors aboard the vessel.

Egyptian officials said eight Egyptian nationals were on the tanker at the time of the hijacking. Earlier reports from Yemeni authorities indicated that the vessel was carrying Egyptian and Indian crew members when it was attacked near the coast of Shabwa governorate in southwestern Yemen on May 2.

The incident has renewed concerns over maritime security in the Gulf of Aden and waters surrounding the Horn of Africa, where piracy activity had sharply declined over the past decade before showing signs of resurgence in late 2023 amid escalating regional instability.

On May 10, the wife of one of the detained Egyptian sailors appealed publicly for the crew’s release, stating that the hijackers had demanded a ransom. Egyptian authorities have not commented on the reported demand or disclosed details regarding possible negotiations.

The hijacking comes at a sensitive moment for regional shipping routes already affected by heightened security tensions across the Red Sea corridor. Commercial vessels operating between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal have faced growing risks linked to regional conflicts, attacks on shipping and disruptions to maritime trade.

Egypt has repeatedly warned that instability affecting strategic waterways poses a direct threat to global commerce and to revenues generated by the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most important maritime transit routes.

Piracy off the Somali coast was once among the most serious maritime security threats globally, particularly between 2008 and 2018, when armed groups targeted commercial shipping and demanded multimillion-dollar ransoms. International naval patrols and tighter security measures later reduced attacks significantly, but recent incidents have raised fears of renewed activity in the region.

The seizure of the M/T Eureka underscores how regional instability is once again exposing commercial shipping lanes to overlapping security threats, including piracy, armed conflict and disruptions to global trade routes.

Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi.org